Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?

  • Yes, will be approved without changes.

    Votes: 221 24.9%

  • Yes, will be approved but with structural changes to ABK.

    Votes: 102 11.5%

  • Yes, will be approved but only with behavioral concessions.

    Votes: 262 29.6%

  • No, will not be approved.

    Votes: 301 34.0%
  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
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Pop said:
*Approved by Microsoft👌

I don't know where you live but it's quite easy to resell physical gaming items. I am mainly against what gamepass will do to the industry much like what Netflix has done to the movie/show industry. Utter cheap garbage
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Again, Game Pass has none of the issues Netflix does (and it's not like there isn't high quality content on Netflix). There's a reason Netflix is making games now.
 
graywolf323 said:
if your post had been edited before I hit quote it would reflect the edited post even if I hadn't refreshed the page

I'm pretty sure you edited in the word just, also what is the point of your post otherwise? GHG wasn't claiming that ONLY GamePass people had bought an upgrade to play early so you are in no way countering his point or pushing your own, instead you're just obfuscating which has been a massive problem in this thread from dozens of posters who resemble you

not that many posts, no avatar, joined in the 2-4 years, etc.

so excuse us if we're suspicious of your motives when frankly I'm fucking exhausted of dealing with the disingenuous propaganda that keeps getting regurgitated here, the ban page is full of alts/trolls/astroturfers and it sure feels like the mods have only nabbed a fraction of them


bought the ultimate edition OR bought the upgrade as GHG's post notes
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Or both misread my post and went into that thinking it was an easy gotcha.

I have a thread in this very forum where I argued heavily with the "xbox side" about the inability to run offline Xbox One games on Xbox Series X. I don't think every thing MS does is gold.


Hell I have more post here defending the Steam Deck than Xbox or Gamepass.

If you hit quote my post would be front and center while you typed yours, you read it wrong.
You complain about disingenuous, but you are quick to say that I timed my edit just right to throw both of you off and failing that I'm probably a shill/bot/whatever.

GHG said:
Are you going to be honest about your edit or not?
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I am, but if you want to double down on your mistake suit yourself.

GHG said:
Here's the thing, we can and should be able to have honest discussions around (and acknowledge) dogshit sucker/FOMO inducing DLC and monetisation tactics regardless of whether we have fallen foul to them at some point or not.
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Any Early Access is FOMO, be it with DLC included or not, but you know that full well you aren't suckered into. Want me to be honest a 5-10 dollar fee for only Early Access it's even worse to me.

GHG said:
Considering the money I spent on racing during the time I was participating, yes I'd say I was a sucker and upon analysing the various tactics they deploy to get people to buy more cars and tracks along with the heavy sunk cost aspect it's easy to see why.

But for you to admit that you've been suckered into something like that it requires you to be honest with yourself. Based on how this discussion has evolved, I don't think people are ready for that, nobody ever wants to look foolish.
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I'm not gonna lie man, I don't feel suckered, I knew fully well what I was signing up for.
I'll tell you every thing I bought:

>Brands Hatch Circuit
>Formula Renault 2.0
>Skip Barber Formula 2000
>USF 2000

You want me to feel incredible shame for having bought it, but again I played enough of it and found my time better was spent somewhere else after that 1 year sub expired.

Let me give you another example, I bought a PS4 in 2015 and also bought a bunch of digital games like Persona 5 Royal, GT Sport, etc and also a lot of PS Plus. The sold it in 2021 and now have no PS4 or PS5 to use, was I suckered in? Like I have no way to play them at the moment, should I complain to Sony about it?
 
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PaintTinJr said:
Not really, it all depends on the judge, and he's pretty angry at the CMA, hence why he's got head of the CMA legal writing the evidence, so he has someone to significant to hang a failed decision on if it is wildly wrong.
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Sarah already said their waiting for MS new contract. So the judge is already fine with it btw
 
havoc00 said:
Feels good to be a gamepass ultimate chad
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You-Keep-Using-That-Word-GiveMeSomeEnglish.gif
 
POKEYCLYDE said:
Agreed. But we shouldn't attribute these "dogshit" monetization models to Gamepass and pretend that it isn't an issue in the industry.

The early access around Starfield is scummy. The game comes out September 6th, a Wednesday when students are back to school. But if you pay for the "early access", it basically releases on the Thursday night before a long weekend.

But even if Starfield wasn't on Gamepass, it would still have that premium edition early access version.
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The argument is that gamepass makes this aspect worse on 2 counts:

- the person who wants early access is also forced to purchase DLC sight unseen for a game they don't even have a permanent license for.
- people are more likely to say "fuck it" and pay whatever's required to get early access because it it appears "cheaper" than if you were to purchase the game anyway.

It's all a massive trap designed to prey on people's emotions but yet people are defending it. There is absolutely no way purchasing DLC for rented games is a logical purchase. Nobody in their right mind would pimp out their rental car or throw down money to renovate a home they don't own, the same applies here albeit on a much smaller scale.

I'm not even surprised, I was one of the few here pushing back against horse armour at the time and look where we are now. People are demonstrating that there's appetite to outright purchase DLC for games that they are renting, it's the start of a new huge slippery slope. I'll be first to say told you so when these guys start introducing "gamepass only" games.
 
GHG said:
The argument is that gamepass makes this aspect worse on 2 counts:

- the person who wants early access is also forced to purchase DLC sight unseen for a game they don't even have a permanent license for.
- people are more likely to say "fuck it" and pay whatever's required to get early access because it it appears "cheaper" than if you were to purchase the game anyway.

It's all a massive trap designed to prey on people's emotions but yet people are defending it. There is absolutely no way purchasing DLC for rented games is a logical purchase. Nobody in their right mind would pimp out their rental car or throw down money to renovate a home they don't own, the same applies here albeit on a much smaller scale.

I'm not even surprised, I was one of the few here pushing back against horse armour at the time and look where we are now. People are demonstrating that there's appetite to outright purchase DLC for games that they are renting, it's the start of a new huge slippery slope. I'll be first to say told you so when these guys start introducing "gamepass only" games.
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None of this has anything to do with Game Pass. Lots of games have been selling Early Access packages that aren't on Game Pass.

Banjo64 said:
You have demonstrated an understanding of the word. Now I'd say you don't know how to use it in the correct context.
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Nah, he's right.
 
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Vox Machina said:
Again, Game Pass has none of the issues Netflix does (and it's not like there isn't high quality content on Netflix). There's a reason Netflix is making games now.
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They both share in their subscription service that 99% of the content is filler garbage.

Ya Netflix sure are making them high quality mobile games...
 
Punished Miku said:
Completely not true for me. I like owning games. GP exposes me to more games I want to own. I definitely end up buying more. Just buy it on sale.
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You're the exception, not the rule.

Most GP subscribers aren't using the service as a way to discover new games. They're subbing to the service to avoid having to spend a premium buying individual games.

You can't simultaneously call GP "the best deal in gamingâ„¢" and then claim that a majority or even significant number of users are paying for the service while also buying games. That's just not happening and the software sales on Xbox demonstrate that pretty clearly.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
You're the exception, not the rule.

Most GP subscribers aren't using the service as a way to discover new games. They're subbing to the service to avoid having to spend a premium buying individual games.

You can't simultaneously call GP "the best deal in gamingâ„¢" and then claim that a majority or even significant number of users are paying for the service while also buying games. That's just not happening and the software sales on Xbox demonstrate that pretty clearly.
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I didnt claim to know what everyone else is doing. I think sometimes it does help sales and sometimes it doesnt. We've seen multiple devs claim both.
 
Vox Machina said:
Untrue. I can buy Early Access for the Game Pass version of a "high-end game" like Starfield literally right now.
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Vox Machina said:
Gaming Subscriptions are orders of magnitude more "sustainable" than Movie/Music subscriptions.
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See, here's the thing. You can buy "Early access" even for some netflix movies like you can a handful of gamepass games.

Look no further than Glass Onion, the Knives Out sequel. Had a short theatrical release before going to Netflix. Flopped at the box office because people know it's coming to netflix and can wait a week or more. The only thing games have over movies are mtx in GaaS crap and I don't like that future. It's happening at an alarming rate though.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Not true at all as I buy ultimate versions of gamepass games that I know I am going to play a lot and do it often even being subbed to gamepass.
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Not true for you. But do you really think you represent the majority of GP subscribers?

That you're willing to throw your money away on both the GP sub AND buying games places you in a tiny upper percentile of players that clearly has enough disposable income that you're not really concerned about how much money you spend on games.

That's not anywhere close to the majority of GP subscribers, so much so that I'd argue your own personal experience is entirely irrelevant.

Most GP subscribers are not buying games. They're using the GP service as a means of saving them from having to do that.... obviously!
 
Three said:
See, here's the thing. You can buy "Early access" even for some netflix movies like you can a handful of gamepass games.

Look no further than Glass Onion, the Knives Out sequel. Had a short theatrical release before going to Netflix. Flopped at the box office because people know it's coming to netflix and can wait a week or more. The only thing games have over movies are mtx in GaaS crap and I don't like that future. It's happening at an alarming rate though.
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That's interesting. I didn't know that. I'd argue that's a very different type of "Early Access" though because it's not available to everyone (have to live near a Cinema offering the show), and you have to interact with the content in an atypical way (have to travel to the Cinema vs streaming it at home). No wonder it flopped. Early Access for games has not had any of those issues.
 
PaintTinJr said:
Not really, it all depends on the judge, and he's pretty angry at the CMA, hence why he's got head of the CMA legal writing the evidence, so he has someone to significant to hang a failed decision on if it is wildly wrong.
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You could be right forsure and maybe this deal dies but I'm really curious about your stance if it does somehow go through, how pissed would you be? You seem passionate about your hatred of it so if it does pass would it get you to quit gaming?
 
SomeGit said:
I'm not gonna lie man, I don't feel suckered, I knew fully well what I was signing up for.
I'll tell you every thing I bought:

>Brands Hatch Circuit
>Formula Renault 2.0
>Skip Barber Formula 2000
>USF 2000

You want me to feel incredible shame for having bought it, but again I played enough of it and found my time better was spent somewhere else after that 1 year sub expired.
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So you literally only bought some starter content, barely used the service and didn't even make it past a year? Yeh, no shit you don't feel suckered if you're a more casual sim racer that most likely wont see any value in the service, you're not even coming at it from an angle of experience.

2h2k9kz.png


None of that is accessible unless I resubscribe, all coming to a gamepass subscription near you.

You all have so much to look forward to :)
 
GHG said:
So you literally only bought some starter content, barely used the service and didn't even make it past a year? Yeh, no shit you don't feel suckered if you're a more casual sim racer that most likely wont see any value in the service, you're not even coming at it from an angle of experience.

2h2k9kz.png


None of that is accessible unless I resubscribe, all coming to a gamepass subscription near you.

You all have so much to look forward to :)
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You can't just buy the game to get access?
 
Punished Miku said:
I didnt claim to know what everyone else is doing. I think sometimes it does help sales and sometimes it doesnt. We've seen multiple devs claim both.
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Nah, it's largely BS. Those claims were a warped twisting of the data.

It's obvious. How can you know how much a game would have sold if it didn't launch on GP to compare against its actual GP launch to say that GP increased sales? Clearly, they're comparing games launching on GP to entirely different titles that didn't and trying to make a contrived claim about how GP is increasing sales... it isn't.

For AAA games, e.g. every major MS 1st party release that's launched on GP, the actual game sales have been significantly lower than previous entries.

The people buying the games are unlikely to be GP subscribers on the whole. So any claim that GP is affecting this group's buying behaviors is clearly a BS contrivance.
 
GHG said:
So you literally only bought some starter content, barely used the service and didn't even make it past a year? Yeh, no shit you don't feel suckered if you're a more casual sim racer that most likely wont see any value in the service, you're not even coming at it from an angle of experience.

2h2k9kz.png


None of that is accessible unless I resubscribe, all coming to a gamepass subscription near you.

You all have so much to look forward to :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, It was what I was willing to spend and I told you before I'm not a big hardcore sim racer.
I don't feel suckered because I spent what I found worth it, again if you have any remorse that's on you, but like you played yourself. You knew fully well you had to keep subscription.

The moment GP requires that big of a money commitment on top of the sub price, I'm out.
 
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TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
Nah, it's largely BS. Those claims were a warped twisting of the data.

It's obvious. How can you know how much a game would have sold if it didn't launch on GP to compare against its actual GP launch to say that GP increased sales? Clearly, they're comparing games launching on GP to entirely different titles that didn't and trying to make a contrived claim about how GP is increasing sales... it isn't.

For AAA games, e.g. every major MS 1st party release that's launched on GP, the actual game sales have been significantly lower than previous entries.

The people buying the games are unlikely to be GP subscribers on the whole. So any claim that GP is affecting this group's buying behaviors is clearly a BS contrivance.
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The games people are least likely to buy are the MS ones because they dont leave the service. I think for smaller games or games reviewed unfairly negatively it can be a boost. I think it also boosts a game's sales on other systems even, if its good. Spencer has mentioned that and it makes sense to me. Visibility and discussion increase a lot.
 
adamsapple said:
CMA's current deadline is August 29th and they said they aim to get their work done sooner than that. I doubt it's gonna do that long (till October).
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I was assuming they agreed to October in the event that CAT reject the resubmission plan and persevere with the original appeal (which I'm sure they said they'd aim to wrap up around October time?).
 
Ginzeen said:
Sarah never said their waiting for the cat judge to make a decision. "The ball is in MS court"
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They told the judge directly that they were still waiting for the final report.




So regardless of the Judge's decision, they're still waiting for MS to provide it.
 
Ginzeen said:
Sarah already said their waiting for MS new contract. So the judge is already fine with it btw
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Because that is what the judge instructed. If what you said is true he would have adjourned things without any more to say. Instead he schooled every barrister in the room for a long time about the law, even Beard who thinks he's the legal equivalent of Maverick

Here's the part from page 3 where the judge clearly is needing convinced for granting the adjournment and that it is a test they must pass to get what they want.

4. The question is whether a hearing that has been fixed and that all agree was
fixed because of its urgency in the public interest, can and should be adjourned.
All of the parties are agreed that this is a judicial decision that must be justified.
That is true for any adjournment, but it is particularly true in this case. I had
some concern, when I read the written submissions of the CMA and Microsoft,
that there was an underlying assumption by the parties that the Tribunal should
not be concerned with the reasons for the adjournment, and should simply grant
it because the parties were in agreement that it should be granted.
5. I made clear in the course of submissions – and all of the parties ultimately
agreed with this – that this is not the right test. Clearly the agreement of the
parties to an adjournment is a relevant and material factor, particularly when the
parties are otherwise in opposition in regard to the JR Application. But it is now,

I think, common ground that the reasons for the adjournment must outweigh the
public interest, on which the Tribunal has already ruled twice, of hearing the JR
Application as it has been listed
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SomeGit said:
Yeah, It was what I was willing to spend and I told you before I'm not a big hardcore sim racer.
I don't feel suckered because I spent what I found worth it, again if you have any remorse that's on you, but like you played yourself. Still you knew fully well you had to keep subscription.
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Of course, but while you're "all-in" and engaged with the service thats not what anyone thinks about. Which is why as many people use it and keep using it. If you have discussions with people on there there are plenty of people who will gladly admit to being "trapped".

Vox Machina said:
Well that sucks, but Game Pass doesn't have that issue. You can buy all the games that are on Game Pass.
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Yeh, that's how it always starts.
 
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